The Beatles, “I Was There” Reviewed By Michelle Kaye Malsbury of Bookpleasures.com

Michelle Kaye Malsbury

Reviewer Michelle Kaye Malsbury:
Michelle was born in Champaign, IL. Currently, she resides in Asheville, NC
and is in her second year of doctoral studies at Nova Southeastern
University in Ft. Lauderdale with specialization/concentration in
conflict resolution and peace studies. She has over six hundred
articles published on the web and one book published thus far with
many more in the wings. Hobbies include; reading, writing, music, and
playing with herÂ Australian Cattle Dog, Abu.

This book is actually
compilation of many peoples thoughts on the Beatles as they began and
then took over the world with their amazing songs and music. It
outlines their early years and the not so hot places they played and
how accessible or not they were at that time. Obviously because it is
many people’s first hand accounts of how the Beatles evolved into
what they finally became it is subjective.

The editor, Mr. Houghton,
apparently invited people to submit their thoughts on the Beatles as
he placed them in chronological order into this lengthy book. He did
not edit their words for correct grammar or proper sentence structure
which made it a bit hard for me to read and want to come back to.
However, that said, I love love love The Beatles and was interested
in what they did in the beginning of their careers and how they came
to be the world sensation they became.

There are snippets from
early music critics who frequented the clubs the Beatles played in
England and Germany and how they began to generate a following. Some
of the accounts of the various characters the Beatles band comprised
are interesting insights into what changed as they gained fame and
recognition on the world stage. The Beatles were not always the coy
well-dressed young men that I saw on the Ed Sullivan show here in
America. They had a wild and unpredictable side that only got tamed
over time and when they settled into solid relationships with their
love interests.

Some of the other things
that I enjoyed about this book were the pictures and the ticket stubs
and posters saved by the contributors of this book along the way.
Great swaths of history in the making can be gleaned from those extra
inserts. I also noted that some of the contributors were very young
tweenagers when they snuck into these clubs to watch the Beatles or
were allowed during certain times of the day unaccompanied by an
adult.

Would
I rush out to buy this book? Probably not, but I did learn a lot
about the Beatles as I read the various notes from the people who
followed them as they took off into the stratosphere and became rock
and roll legends we know them as today.